This fall, Marina Abramović will bring sex, ritual, and the supernatural to the stage in a provocative reenactment of Balkan erotic rites. Balkan Erotic Epic (2025) was commissioned by Factory International, the cultural organization in Manchester, England that runs the Manchester International Festival. It will debut at Manchester’s Aviva Studios on October 9th and run until October 25th. Featuring more than 70 performers, the performance will be Abramović’s largest to date.
Balkan Erotic Epic is rooted in Balkan folklore and ancestral customs, exploring themes of desire, spirituality, and the body. Its 13 choreographed scenes and interactive vignettes will be performed by dancers, singers, and musicians.
“In our culture today, we label anything erotic as pornography,” Abramović said in a press statement. “Balkan Erotic Epic is the most ambitious work in my career. This gives me a chance to go back to my Slavic roots and culture, look back to ancient rituals and deal with sexuality, in relation to the universe and the unanswered questions of our existence. Through this project, I would like to show poetry, desperation, pain, hope, suffering, and reflect our own mortality.”
The rituals to be performed include “Fertility Rite,” in which performers will writhe on the ground in a call for fecundity, and “In Scaring the Gods,” which reenacts a ritual of baring one’s body to the sky to dispel storms. In another, “Massaging the Breast,” women performers enact symbolic gestures intended to “awaken the earth” at burial sites, according to a press release.
Abramović will give a talk on October 11th at Aviva Studios to commemorate the performance’s world premiere. Following its inaugural run, Balkan Erotic Epic will travel, beginning in Barcelona in January 2026.
“This new performance work offers an unmissable opportunity for audiences to experience the next chapter of [Abramović’s] creative life—bold, immersive, and on a scale that’s truly unprecedented,” said John McGrath, artistic director and chief executive of Factory International, in a press statement.
Abramović’s other upcoming projects include the launch of a new NFT project, which she discussed on The Artsy Podcast.
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